Adjustable picture-frame



A. PETROW.

' ADJUSTABLE PICTURE'FRAME. APPLICATION FILED ocT. 26, 1920.

Patented July 26, 1921..

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UNITED STATES ALEX IETROW, OF SAIT FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

ADJUSTABLE PICTURE-FRAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 26, 1921.

Application filed October 26, 1920. Serial No. 419,708.

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEX Pnraow, a citizen of the United States, andresident of San Francisco, county of San Francisco, State of California,have invented a new and useful. Adjustable Picture-Frame, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has for its primary object the provision of a pictureframe of simple, inexpensive and ornamental construction, which may beadjusted. to receive pictures of different sizes in an expeditious andeffective manner, the adjustment being such that the symmetry of theframe will not be disturbed.

Another object is. to provide a frame of the character described whichneed not be taken apart completely to effect the adjustment thereof, andwhich does not require particular skill or craftsmanship to effect suchadjustment.

The invention has further objects and advantages, some of which, withthe foregoing, will be set forth at length in the following descriptionwherein I shall outline in full that form of the invention which I haveselected for illustration in the drawings accompanying and forming apart of the present specification. In said drawings 1 have shown oneform of the construction of my invention but it is to be understood thatI do not limit myself to such form, since the invention as expressed inthe claims may be embodied in a plurality of forms.

Referring to the drawing Figure 1 is a front elevation of the frame ofmy invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the frame; Fig. 3 is asectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4. is a front elevation ofthe body of the frame; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of' thecorner blocks of the frame; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail sectionalview of a portion of the frame; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one ofthe corner blocks; Fig. 8 is a perspective view looking upon theunderside of the block shown in Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is a sectional view on theline 9-9 of Fig. 1; Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the facingblocks; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of one of the backing blocks; Fig.12 is a sectional view taken on the line 12--12 of Fig. 1; Fig. 13 is aperspective view of a modified form of facing blocks; Fig. 14 is aperspective view of a modified form of backing block; Fig. 15 is asectional view on line l.5-l.. of Fig. 1 and Fig 16 is a fragmentaryperspective view of one end of one of the elements of the body of theframe.

In the present embodiment of the invention I provide a frame or framebody (1) made up of side bars (2) and (3) and end bars (a) and (5).These bars are each provided with a longitudinal slot (6) which slotterminates near but spaced from the ends of each bar. The end barsoverlap the side bars so that the slots register and the ends (7) of thebars project outwardly beyond the overlapping portion thereof.

I provide means for adjustably holding the frame bars together and forornamenting the frame as a whole. This means embodies a series of sidebar facing blocks (8), side bar backing blocks (9), facing and backingblocks (10) and (11) respectively, for the end bars, and special cornerfacing and backing blocks (14) which latter fit upon the ends (7) of theframe bars.

The frame bars and blocks may be formed of wood or metal of any othermaterial as desired. Preferably the frame bars are flat and of wood andthe blocks are of the same material and of rectilinear outline, butthese elements may be otherwise shaped if desired, provided the bars areadjustable and the blocks perform the office of concealing the bars,holding the bars in adjustable relation and adding ornamentation to theframe.

The side bar facing and backing blocks (8) and (9) are best shown inFigs. 10, 11, 12. Each facing block (8) is rectilinear, being flat onits front side, provided on its back side with a tongue (15), and havingupon its inner edge flush with the front side, an inwardly projectingpicture retaining portion or flange (16). The inner side of each block(8) is flush with the correspond ing side of the side bar except for theportion (16) which projects inwardly from these sides. The tongues (15)engage snugly in the slots (6). The outer sides of the blocks (8) arespaced inwardly from the outer edges of side bars as shown clearly inFig. 12. The backing blocks (9) (see Figs. 11 and 12) each comprise afiat rectilinear body (17) having a right angular extension (18) on itsouter edge. The bodies (17 engage upon the rear sides of the bars (2)and (3) and the extensions (18) project outwardly in front of and alongthe outer edges of said side bars. The extensions (18) have inwardlyprojecting flanges (20) intermedia purpose as the portions (16).

. ting the blocks (8).

blocks ately arranged on their inner sides and these flanges engage andconceal the portions of side bars between the blocks (8) and extensions(18) with their outer edges abut- Since the outer edges of theextensions (18) are flush with the front faces of the blocks (8) agroove as at (21) is formed in the sides of the frame. The blocks (8)and (9) are fixed one in engagement with the other upon the side bars(2) and (3) as shown in the drawing, conceal said side bars and provideornamental side frame members, the groove (21) formed as describedaccentuating the ornamentation. These blocks are held upon the sideblocks slidable thereon; however, by countersunk screws (22) which areinserted from the rear sides of the blocks (9) through said block andthe slots (6) and turned into the tongues (15) in the blocks (8) eachblock (8) and its backing block (9 is a frame unit slidable upon theside bars.

The end bar blocks (10) and (11) are similar in construction to the sidebar blocks except that the facing blocks (10) are thinner and havetbngues (23) nearer to the outer edges thereof than are the tongues(15). This provides inwardly projecting portions (24) similar to and forthe same The backing blocks (11) are thicker in the bodies (25) thereofand the right angular extensions (26) are shorter than the similarportions of the blocks (9), (see Figs. 13, 14 and 15). The outer edgesof the blocks (10) arespaced from the inner sides of the extensions (26)and the exposed portions of the end bars (4) and (5) lie the samedistance inwardly from the front faces of the block (10) as do theflanges (20) relative to the Thisprovides a groove (27) corresponding tothe groove (21). The difference in construction in the side and endblocks i necessary because of the overlapping of the frame bars, whichoverlapping disposes said bars in different planes. Screws (28) securethe blocks (10) and (11) together so as to permit of the sliding thereofon the end bars. The blocks (8) (9), (10), and (11) which abut at thecorners of the frame are beveled so as to fit closely together as shownat (29) in Fig. 1. The corner blocks (12) and (13) are best shown inFigs. 1, 7, 8, and '9. The blocks (12) each have a pyramidal front side(30), and upon theirbacks each are provided with two tongues (31) and(32), one at one edge of, and the other intermediately disposed upon,said block. The tongues (32) engage in the slots (6) of the end bars (4)and (5) and the tongues (31) extend along the outer edges of said bars.The blocks (13) have tongues (33) and (34) similar to the tongues (31)and (32). The tongues engage in the slot (6) of the side bars (2) andand the tongues (34) extend along the inside edges of said bars (2) and(3) and abut the under or rear faces of the block (12). Screw holes (35)are provided in the tongues (33) and receive screws (36) which screwsare turned into the tongues (32) of the. blocks (1.2). These cornerblocks hold the frame bars adjustably together. The end blocks (14) arebest shown in Figs. 1, 5 and 6 and have recesses (37 cut therein so asto receive the ends (7) of the frame bars. These blocks abut the cornerand side and end blocks when in place and have grooves (38) thereinarranged to aline with the grooves (21) and (27 These grooves (38)appear as the extremities of the grooves (21) and (2'7). To adjust theframe so as to make it smaller certain of the blocks (8) and (9) on theside bars (2) and (3) and certain of the blocks (10) and (11) on the endbars are removed preferably from points intermediate the ends of saidbars. After removing these blocks the frame bars are moved together bysliding them through the removing blocks, until the remaining blocksabut one another. The projecting portions (7) are lengthened and theblocks removed are mounted thereon so as to conceal these portions ofthe frame bars. It will thus be seen that I mayadjust the frame invarious ways to provide for the mounting of pictures of different sizesin said frame. The frame may thus be made square or rectangular, largerorsmaller as desired.

I claim: 1

1. A picture frame comprising frame bars, and a plurality of blocks inwhich said bars are slidable, said blocks abutting one an other andconcealing the said bars, and means for removably securing the blocksupon the bars.

2. A picture frame comprising a plurality of blocks, frame bars slidablebetween and concealed by said blocks, and means for removably securingthe blocks to the bars.

3. picture frame comprising slotted frame bars overlapping one anotherat the ends, means for adjustably holding thebars assembled to form aframe comprising blocks mounted. upon and concealing the front and rearsides of said bars, and means for removably holding the blocks together.

' ALEX PETROW.

